The beginning is always today

Day 1, 28.12.22, from Cape Town to Vanrynsdorp

It's time: the tour is planned, the accommodations are booked, the first food rations are bought, the Ford Ranger is properly packed and fueled. We can start and exactly at 8:30 we will start our tour in Hout Bay, the beautiful bay south of Cape Town.

On our way to the Orange River, our tour takes us to a stopover in Vanrynsdorp, a place in the Matzikama municipality in the West Coast district, Western Cape province in South Africa with just under 6,000 inhabitants. This place is located about 320 kilometers north of Cape Town.

Vanrhynsdorp is the oldest city in Namaqualand and one of the oldest in South Africa. It was founded in 1751 as Trutro (Troe- Troe), which is said to derive from the war cry Toro-Toro of the Khoikhoi and means "Attack-Attack". In 1881, the name was changed to Van Rhijnsdorp to honor the Rhijns family, who had done a lot for the local community as church leaders and magistrates.

Vanrynsdorp is framed by the breathtaking Gifberg (Poison Mountain) and its challenging passes, which climbs the Matsikamma mountain and connects the mountain farms of Gifberg with Vanrhynsdorp about 20 km to the north. The passes were originally built in 1917 and offer excellent views, hiking trails, San rock art, wildflowers, rock pools, and waterfalls (source of the Troe-Troe River, which flows north through Vanrhynsdorp).

And now the first question arises: Why is the Gifberg called Gifberg? It gets its name from the hunters and gatherers of the San who used the latex of the bulbs of the Gifbooms or Gifbols (Buphane toxicariapoison bush) in the area as a rich source of poison for their otherwise meager arrows. The Gifboom provided the deadly neurotoxin with which the San armed their arrows. After they had wounded the prey, the little hunters simply jogged on the track of the wounded animal (the San are masters of tracking) until it fell.

With so much knowledge in our luggage, we drive to our accommodation, the Mountain View Guesthouse, where our host Roché welcomes us friendly, but also informs us that the room is not ready until 2 pm. No problem for us, as we want to spend the afternoon on the "poisoned" mountain anyway.

He recommends the "Circular Route", which leads over the Ou Berg Pass and back over the Gifberg Pass (about 84 km). Cindy decides to ride the first 26 km with the gravel bike and we meet at the first view point, the Watervall Resort Vanrynsberg. From here, a small path leads to a pool and a waterfall, unfortunately the latter without water, but the pool invites us to swim and we enjoy the cool water.

Then we continue on an adventurous 4x4 track to the top, where the Gifberg Holiday Farm is located, from where you can hike on various trails that connect you with the wonders of nature in the Namaqualand.

We choose the 'Spoelgat Route' to a watercourse that resembles a smaller Fish River Canyon and offers spectacular potholes and rock formations. When we arrive there, we go a bit deeper on different paths, only to realize when we come out that we can't see the others anymore. We each call the other's name, but get no answer. Well then, I think to myself, I'll just follow the path with the white feet, which I immediately lost sight of and now, after losing my guide, I became the master of my own destiny by trying to find a way back and forth. I succeeded after three-quarters of an hour and a furious Cindy awaited me, who had surely been waiting for me at the car for a long time.

She didn't wait there, but she was very angry, as it turned out later. As an experienced hiker, she followed the footprints and of course returned much earlier. Since she couldn't find me, she logically went back to where we got lost, but I hadn't been there for a long time. After a little back and forth, we found each other again.

On the way back, we go without any incidents over the Gifberg Pass directly to a well-deserved dinner at the Red Ox, a recommended restaurant of our host. Here we enjoy the end of our first day before returning to our beautiful Mountain View Guesthouse.